Fast Company MCP

Brand Identity

Fast Company is a leading business publication with an editorial focus on innovation in technology, ethonomics, leadership and design. They commissioned Superfried to develop the identity for their regular feature on the Most Creative People.

The brief required a 3D style to coincide with their current editorial, award and conference brands. Since a structural form was required I immediately looked for potential symmetry and commonality between the letters. The existing marques made the brief more challenging and required investigation of numerous routes to achieve the balance between a sympathetic addition to the family, whilst also retaining independence.

The non-symmetrical structure of the combined letters meant that a standard cube would not work and pyramidal attempts led to unacceptable compromises with regards to legibility. Going back to the block and reducing the height overcame the original symmetry issue, but it looked a little bit flat. Rotation through 90 decrees then led to a happy accident – the overall shape now resembled a diamond, creating immediate stand out amongst the remaining marques.

With the direction agreed, tweaks and refinements were made in addition to tests to ensure it would work in B&W and at small scale. Lastly, experimentation was continued via animation and internal lighting effects in Photoshop.